Baltimore Columnist Blasts Long Sentences for Minor Marijuana Crimes

July 1993

Two recent cases in which multi-year sentences were handed down to marijuana
defendants in Carroll and Worcester counties in Maryland were grossly unfair
and a waste of taxpayer dollars, according to columnist Dan Rodricks (Dan
Rodricks, "This Is Not A War On Drugs, This Is Unfair," The
Sun [Baltimore], 6/24/93, B1).

In one case, a black defendant received a three-year sentence, with two
years suspended for selling a half ounce of marijuana in Ocean City. In
another case, which has been highly publicized, Pamela Snowhite Davis received
two years for simple possession of approximately one ounce of marijuana.
"This is not the war on drugs, folks," wrote Rodricks. "This
is not what I call getting the biggest bang for your tax buck."